 The History and Activities of the East Tennessee Angus Association The ETAA was founded in 1918 to promote Angus cattle in the East Tennessee area. This makes it one of the oldest area of Angus Association in the country. In earlier days much of the promotion of Angus cattle centered on the show and sell which usually consisted of 45-50 females and 4-5 bulls. The latter and were almost always bulls with show records. In the late 50’s and early 60’s with the development of the production testing programs, there began to be considerable discussion of increasing the number of bulls and to require P.T. records. At first the bulls were divided into show and P.T. categories. However, after several years of this it was decided that bulls would have P.T. records, and all bulls would be shown. Thus ETAA became the first area association in the U.S. to require P.T. records on the bulls in is sale and require those bulls to be shown. At the same time it actively promoted Angus bulls from cross-breeding. Through the efforts of some association members, the resulting black – baldy calves were first included in some of the heretofore all Angus feede  r calves sales providing an outlet for the cross bred calves and helping the sale of Angus bulls.The association has a long history, at least thirty- five years, of promoting junior activities. At first this took the form of providing a fifty dollar certificate to the winning Angus steer in the area junior ETAA sale. It was done with the idea of encouraging junior to get into breeding Angus cattle. However, with recent mix up of breeds, and the difficulty of determining origin of the steer, the ETAA has made available in the February show and sale a group of potential show heifers eligible for the junior show of that year. The ETAA also contributes to the fund of Angus at the Tennessee Junior Livestock Expo in Nashville. Presently, the ETAA awards $50 cash to the District Junior Show Champions in Tennessee each year. The ETAA sponsors a Summer Field Day in June. This is usually held at some member’s farm and rotates from upper to middle to lower East Tennessee. The programs are varied and usually have a theme. In addition there is usually an inspection of the cattle and this often takes in a tour of several in the area. ETAA helps the host of Field day with some of the expenses. The ETAA lists the dues paying members of the members of the preceding year the Annual Directory. This provides for some publicity for the members as the sales manager has a rather extensive mailing list and he usually mails out in excess of 1000 catalogs. Several breeders in the Western Carolinas and S.W. Virginia have been strong supporters of the sale in the past and are members of the ETAA. The above gives you some idea of the activities of the ETAA besides having sales of cattle. The ETAA does promote Angus cattle in the area and does encourage juniors to get into the Angus cattle business or support them in livestock activities. Currently it sponsors a Junior Preview show at the Field Day which gives both the juniors and the cattle some show experience before summer shows. The ETAA pays all the premiums awarded at the show. This gives you some idea of how the dues, sales commissions and proceeds from this directory are used. If you have any questions concerning the ETAA activities, plan to attend the annual meeting or talk with one of the officers or directors. |
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